


Woodpiles and Thorns

by pictureswithboxes



Series: Vox Machina Modern AU [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, IT'S GAY, Modern AU, it's fluff, it's like... 12k words of awkward slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 19:52:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15103790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pictureswithboxes/pseuds/pictureswithboxes
Summary: Vax went from looking excited to looking skeptical. “And where exactly did you meet this completely real woman with red hair, who smells like a woodpile in the middle of the city with a fanny pack full of birdseed?”





	Woodpiles and Thorns

“OH NO! MY POOR BABY!” 

This was the sound that knocked Keyleth out of her rhythm, causing her to jump at the sudden, blood curdling scream, and almost knock a fresh tray of lilies out of their box. She took half a second to place the second tray in her arms on the floor before running to the counter where her phone was. Her phone in hand, Keyleth rushed to the door of her shop and looked down the street in the direction the scream had come from. 

The sun had set and the moon was dim, but the night sky was illuminated by the street lamps on every corner, giving the buildings a faint, yellow glow. No more than ten yards away from her came two figures barrelling toward her. By the time her eyes had adjusted to the dim light of the streets, the figures were close enough for Keyleth to recognize one of them. 

Her good friend Grog was hurrying as quickly as he could toward her, in his arms was the biggest, fluffiest dog Keyleth had ever seen, and it was being held like a baby in Grog’s arms. The other figure, a woman far shorter than Grog, was running alongside him while fretting over the dog, she’d definitely been the one who had screamed earlier. Keyleth opened her door fully when she noticed that Grog seemed to be heading right for her. 

“Keyleth!” Grog exclaimed, barely slowing down to turn and enter the flower shop. “We have an emergency!”

“Oh shit!” Keyleth replied, closing the door behind her and the woman. “What happened?”

Keyleth cleared off some space on the counter and had Grog set the dog down on top of it before grabbing the first aid kit she kept behind it. 

“We think he stepped on a thorn.” Grog explained and Keyleth froze. 

As someone who loved animals and nature far more than the average person, Keyleth could understand being nervous when someone’s pet wasn’t feeling their best. But stepping on a thorn was one of the least bad things that could happen to a pet. With a small sigh, Keyleth put the first aid kit back and reached into her fanny pack, it had a floral print on the fabric and leather straps, and pulled out the pair of tweezers she used whenever she was stuck by a thorn, which was more often than she cared to admit. 

“I’ve got this.” She said, mostly to the woman, who was now holding the dog’s face in her hands and murmuring words of assurance to him. 

“You hear that, buddy?” She said in a cool, but soft voice that made Keyleth stiffen a little. “This nice lady will make it all better.”

“It’s his back paw.” Grog said, pointing to the dog’s back left paw. 

With a nod, Keyleth got to work. The dog had the furriest feet of any animal Keyleth had ever seen, and it took almost a full minute before she was able to find and extract the thorn. But when she did, the dog went from whining pitifully to hopping off the counter and jumping right onto Keyleth, nearly knocking her to the floor were it not for Grog catching her so handily. The dog licked Keyleth’s face happily before turning to his owner, tail wagging. 

Keyleth finally was able to get a good look at his owner as well and felt her jaw drop. She was beautiful. 

The woman had perfect pale skin and dark hair that was braided and thrown over her shoulder with a feather tucked behind her ear. She wore red lipstick and a grateful smile that made Keyleth’s heart pound in her ears, she could hardly tell what the woman was saying. Her eyes were somehow cold and soft at the same time, but completely mesmerizing. Everything about this woman made Keyleth feel self conscious, and especially about her fanny pack. 

Now a pretty girl that Grog knows knew that Keyleth had a fanny pack. Had and used a fanny pack!

“Thank you so much!” The woman said, pulling Keyleth into a tight hug, which Keyleth didn’t think to return until the woman was pulling away. “I was so worried about my boy. I’m a terrible dog mom.”

“If by terrible, you mean, doting, I think you’re fine.” Keyleth said with a stiff shrug. Why did she feel like her skin was on fire? 

“Don’t encourage her.” Grog said, clapping Keyleth on the shoulder. “Thank you so much for the help though. When Trinket started whining, I told her I knew exactly where to go!”

“We ran two blocks to get here.” The woman looked around. “Your shop is adorable.”

“That’s why I like it here.” Grog nodded.

“Thank you.” Keyleth nodded, looking down at the dog and swooning a little when she noticed the blue bandana on him. “Oh my god, that’s the cutest thing ever!”

“Thank you, I swear, very few people appreciate a dog in a bandana these days.”

They all chatted for a bit before Grog and the woman needed to leave, Keyleth smiled and said goodbye to Trinket, making sure to give him extra scratches behind his ear before he left. With them gone, Keyleth got back to tidying up and getting the shop ready to close, smiling to herself at being able to help such a beautiful woman and her dog, she’d definitely have to tell Percy all about it later. 

That is, until she remembered that she hadn’t thought to get the woman’s name. 

This time Keyleth  _ did  _ drop the lilies. 

“Crap!”

* * *

Vex’ahlia walked into the apartment she shared with her brother and flopped onto the sofa beside him after unclipping Trinket’s leash. She laid there beside him for a few minutes in silence, idly listening to the show her brother was watching on the TV. It was some true crime documentary that basically just told the audience facts they could’ve learned from a quick internet search and then at the end reaffirmed that the case would never be solved. She had no idea why Vax watched those things.

“How was your walk?” Vax asked when Vex rolled onto her back, looking up at him. His eyes didn’t leave the screen. 

“It was all right.” Vex shrugged. “There was a minor crisis, but I handled it with the grace you’d expect of me.”

“Oh, so do you have another vet bill to deal with?” Vax sounded too sarcastic for Vex’s liking, but she ignored him. 

“No, I don’t.” Vex replied snippily. “Because Grog carried him to a florist he knows. Her name is Keyleth, and I swear to god, brother, she was the cutest human being in the world. She saved Trinket’s life”

This got Vax to look at her. “Really?!” He exclaimed, shoving her a little. “You met a girl? Tell me about her!” 

Vex thought for a moment. “Well, she’s tall, red hair.” She paused, thinking back to when she hugged Keyleth. “She smells like a wood pile.”

“Is smelling like a wood pile... um... good?”

“I don’t know! But she’s cute and she carries tweezers in her fanny pack in case she gets a thorn stuck in her palm! She saved my son’s life!”

“Sounds like a girl after your own heart.”

Vex paused for a moment. “I feel like we’re not addressing the fanny pack enough though. It had a floral print with leather straps and I swear I saw bird seed in it while I watched her get the tweezers.”

Vax went from looking excited to looking skeptical. “And where exactly did you meet this completely real woman with red hair, who smells like a woodpile in the middle of the city with a fanny pack full of birdseed?”

“I swear on Trinket’s life that she’s real, if you don’t believe me, have Grog take you there tomorrow and say you’re buying hydrangeas.”

“Oh, trust me, I will.” 

With that, Vax turned back to his show and Vex rolled off the sofa and followed Trinket into the bedroom.

“Just so you know, if you’re lying, Trinket will legally belong to me.” Vax called after her. 

“I’d sooner kill you!” Vex replied over her shoulder, slamming the door.

* * *

As Vax’ildan walked up to the flower shop that Grog had given him the address to, he found that it was one of the single most adorable places he’d ever been in. Honestly, it made him a little sick as he walked in and took a look around. Everything was just so and labelled with fancy calligraphy. Some of the vines from the hanging plants brushed against the top of his head as he walked through the store, looking around for anyone in a floral fanny pack who smelled like a woodpile.

“Hi there, can I help you?” Vax turned and looked away from a pot of succulents that was so cute he was considering getting them for either Vex or Gilmore. Either way, Vex would tease him. 

“Oh, I was just...” Vax trailed off as he took in the woman standing before him. 

She was tall with long, red hair that cascaded down her back and spilled over one shoulder. The woman’s skin was pale with freckles, Vax could tell that she’d gotten a little sun recently based on the light burn on her cheeks and nose. The smile she wore was genuine and her bright green eyes were kind, kinder than most people Vax had known. She had an air around her that made her seem approachable, despite having relatively awkward posture. 

She was, in fact, one of the cutest humans Vax had ever met. 

“Browsing?” The woman supplied in an empathetic tone. 

“Uh... yeah.” Vax nodded dumbly. He glanced down and noticed the floral fanny pack before clearing his throat and smiling. “Actually I’m here because my sister came her last night and... I didn’t believe that she’d actually met a person like you.” 

“Your sister...” The woman paused for a moment, looking at Vax intently. “I mean. I didn’t want to mention it, but you look a lot like the woman who came in here screaming about her dog having a thorn in his paw...”

“Well, my darling sister didn’t mention that she was screaming.” Vax rolled his eyes and laughed. “She just said that you’d saved her dog’s life with tweezers that you pulled out of a fanny pack.”

“She’s lucky Grog was there, otherwise I would’ve called the police.” The woman’s cheeks turned a little pinker and she looked down at her shoes. “It was like bloody murder, I swear. I thought she was hurt! But I get her concern, that dog was pretty great.”

“Oh, you know Grog?” Vax grinned. 

“Yeah. We met a couple months back, he broke a vase on accident while he was looking around, I told him he didn’t have to pay to replace it because I really was an accident and he seemed so sorry. But he did. Now we’re friends.”

“Really? Then you must know Pike and Scanlan, too?”

The woman nodded. “They usually come in with him. We hang out a lot...I would’ve mentioned them earlier but... I didn’t know you knew them, but I knew you knew Grog. I didn’t want to... make you feel... alienated or anything. I was raised right, you know?”

Vax was deeply confused by that entire sentence. 

The woman’s eyes widened at what she’d just said and she quickly began to backtrack. “Crap! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say you weren’t raised right! I’m... so, so sorry.”

Vax smiled. “Don’t worry about it, I think we can just... forget that completely and start over.”

“What I just said will haunt me in the dead of night for weeks to come.” The woman shrugged. “But, we can pretend it never happened.” She offered her hand to him. “I’m Keyleth, nice to meet you...”

“Honestly, I know how you feel.” Vax took her hand. “I hope you enjoy how close mine and my sister’s names are in the future.” 

“I... uh... never caught your sisters name...” Keyleth said sheepishly, her cheeks got even pinker. “So I don’t understand your joke. I caught Trinket’s name, though.”

“Oh.” Vax’s smile widened. “Her name is Vex.”

Keyleth said the name under her breath once before smiling. “That’s a cute name.”

“She’s quite vexing as well.” Vax shrugged. 

They stood in silence for a few moments and Vax could see Keyleth feeling more and more awkward as the silence wore on. God, how did she exist. Vax made a mental note to get a little closer to her before he left to confirm the woodpile smell before speaking again.

“You know, we should really all hang out together.” Vax said, earning a bright, albeit confused smile from Keyleth. “You, me, my sister, Grog, Scanlan, and Pike. We should all go get drinks this Friday. You seem pretty cool, and you already know half of us. We should get drunk together.”

“I wish I could, but I have a standing engagement with my best friend on Fridays.” Keyleth frowned a little. “Any other day, though.”

“You can bring your friend.” Vax replied. “The more the merrier. Does Grog have your number?”

“Yeah.” Keyleth nodded. 

“Great, I’ll get it from him and we’ll hammer out the details later.” Vax looked back to the vase of succulents. 

It was relatively large with several different types of them inside, all arranged so they were popping out of either the top hole or the various side holes of the multi colored vases. Vax picked up the vase that was purple and pink, with the smallest hints of gold accent, turning to Keyleth. 

“I’m also going to be buying this.” He said with a grin. 

“All right, then.” Keyleth looked bewildered but smiled. “Let’s go to the counter and I’ll give you care instructions.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.” Vex hissed as she and Vax walked into Gilmore’s bar.

“Did what? Made it so you can talk to the ‘cutest human being in the world’?” Vax smirked. “I did you a favor, dear sister. You’re welcome.”

“Funny.” Vex said in the driest tone she could muster. “I don’t remember thanking you.” 

“What are you talking about?” Scanlan asked, catching up to them. “Is it about Keyleth? Because I swear I’d have introduced you if I’d known either of you were... interested.”

Vex felt her neck get hot. “I am not!” She snapped, making Scanlan’s grin widen. 

“I see.” He said with a nod, falling back in step with Pike and Keyleth, who were chatting behind them. 

The interior of Gilmore’s bar could be described with one word. Decadent. The ceilings were high with long lengths of faux silks draped around the lights, slightly distorting the color of the bar and giving it more intimate lighting. The color scheme involved deep purples and rich blues, with gold accents wherever they were needed. While the building itself was spacious, and though it never seemed to be particularly packed, it was busy every time Vex and her friends entered. 

“Sherri!” Grog exclaimed loudly, making Sherri look up from the table she was serving and frown a little at the group. “It’s us!” 

Sherri finished delivering the table’s drinks before walking over to the group. “Hello, Scanlan, nice to see you again.” She said with a wide smile before looking at the others, less warm. “I’ll tell Gilmore you’re here, he’ll be thrilled to see you.”

They got their usual table that sat up against the wall halfway between the bar and the bathroom, only for Gilmore to burst forth from behind his beaded curtain behind the bar. Vax stood up and bounded over to him, hugging Gilmore tightly and kissing both cheeks before moving to sit back down. Vex made a mental note to tease her brother about that when they got home. 

“Well if it isn’t my favorite people on earth!” Gilmore exclaimed, beaming at each of them and pausing at Keyleth. “There’s one more of you than usual. Did you all make a new friend?”

“Actually, we’re about to make another one, he’s just running a little late.” Pike said, making Gilmore whirl toward her. 

“Well, as I say, the more the merrier.” Gilmore replied. “I am so thrilled to see you all,” He turned to Keyleth. “And to make your acquaintance. I am Shaun Gilmore, I own this bar.”

“I’m Keyleth.” Keyleth replied. “I own Ashari Flowers on Main.”

“Do you?” Gilmore asked, looking at Vax. “That’s where my friend got me a wonderful potted succulent.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Keyleth smiled. “Did he tell you all the care information? Because the worst thing you can do when you give someone a plant is to not tell them how to care for it. It’s just a waste of money.”

Gilmore tilted his head a little, his smile widening. “Exactly.” He turned back to the whole table and gestured to everyone but Vax. “As usual, the first round is on me, just because I love you all so much.”

And with that, Gilmore disappeared behind his beaded curtain.

“Why doesn’t Vax drink for free?” Keyleth asked the table, making everyone but Vax laugh. 

“Well, when he first started coming here, Vax decided that he’d flirt with Gilmore to try and get free drinks.” Vex said, leaning forward and smirking at Vax, “ And Gilmore saw right through it, but flirted back anyway. One night we were here and he announced that we’d get a free round whenever we showed up as long as Vax paid for his own. Because, and I quote, ‘Vax isn’t as charming as he thinks he is.’”

“That’s incredible.” Keyleth laughed. 

Vex took a short look at Keyleth, careful not to let Scanlan notice, before smiling softly. “It’s nice to see you again, by the way.” 

“Yeah.” Keyleth replied, her cheeks were a little flushed. “It’s nice to see you too. Uh... How’s Trinket?”

“Doing fine. Trying to manipulate me for more treats.” Vex shrugged. “It’s definitely working.”

Keyleth laughed at that and Vex smiled. “Well, I’ve only met Trinket once, and I can say with full confidence that he deserves all the treats he wants.”

They chatted for a while after Vax not so casually got up to follow Gilmore behind the beaded curtain, trading stories and light personal anecdotes. Keyleth was pretty interesting as far as Vex was concerned, she owned the flower shop where they’d met and her father was a senator. Surprisingly enough, Vex had actually voted for him, which she told Keyleth, earning another laugh. It was one of the best sounds Vex had ever heard and she made a mental note to hear it as often as possible. 

“I can’t believe you guys haven’t met yet.” Pike said, taking a long drink from her cup. “I mean, I guess it had to happen sometime, but god. What’re the odds that the screaming woman outside your flower shop has to be friends with your friends?”

“I take offense at the term ‘screaming woman’.” Vex said, sipping her drink and frowning a little. It seemed like Gilmore had decided she needed something strong. 

“Well, that is what you were doing.” Grog replied, downing his beer and belching loudly. “You were screaming so loud, remember?” He looked to Keyleth. “You were so scared, I bet.”

“It was terrifying.” Keyleth nodded. 

“I felt like a bad dog mom!” Vex exclaimed, leaning back to glare at the table. 

“Your dog stepped on a thorn, that’s not abuse.” Scanlan was laughing. 

“I’m going to break into your house and scratch up all of your DVDs.” Vex said, keeping her voice as cool as possible. 

Scanlan didn’t look at all nervous and shrugged.

Before Vex could open her mouth to speak again, Keyleth stood up and started waving. Vex and everyone turned their heads toward the entrance as a tall man with white hair, dressed far too formally for going out to get drinks on a Friday night. In her entire life, Vex had never actually seen a man wear a cravat into a bar, but now she could say that she had. Not that it particularly mattered.

“Percy, you made it!” Keyleth grinned widely as the man sat in the empty seat beside her. “Guys, this is my friend, Percy.”

“Hello, I’m Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III.” The man said so quickly that Vex almost didn’t catch his name. 

“What?!” Grog laughed. “That isn’t a name! That’s four names!”

“It’s Percy for short.” Percy said, he seemed like he got that a lot.

“I don’t know why you say all your middle names when you introduce yourself.” Vex heard Keyleth whisper to Percy.

They were drinking and chatting for almost an hour before Vax seemed to just magically appear next to her. His hair was disheveled and he had glitter on his neck. Vex could go her entire life without having to hear Vax tell them about what had happened behind the beaded curtain, she really could have. Unfortunately for her, Scanlan existed and noticed the glitter and hair immediately, his mouth forming a grin as he pressed Vax for more information. 

This was around the time Vex felt the need to do two shots and finish off Vax’s vodka cranberry. She’d tell him later that his drink of choice is awful.

“We should hang out sometime.” Vex said as she and Keyleth stepped outside with the rest of the group. 

“We definitely should.” Keyleth nodded. Vex couldn’t tell if Keyleth’s cheeks were pink from the booze or if it was because 

They were several paces behind the group, the cool early Autumn air filling Vex’s lungs as she and Keyleth stood in a relatively companionable silence. Vex opened her mouth to speak a couple times, but for some reason it felt wrong to interrupt the silence. It was like they were alone in the world, as if the streets had gone silent and they were the only two people left on earth. At least for a few moments. 

“Here,” Keyleth said, shoving her phone into Vex’s hand. “Type in your number and I’ll text you. Then we’ll have each other’s numbers and we can hang out.” 

“Great!” Vex typed in her number and grinned as she handed Keyleth back her phone. “We can hang out again.”

“Great!” Keyleth smiled, stowing her phone in her pocket and turning when Percy called her name. “I’ve gotta get going, I’ll text you!”

Vex watched as Percy and Keyleth got into their Uber before jumping a little when Vax appeared over her shoulder. “You could work in haunted houses, you know that, right?”

“I’ll keep that in mind for Halloween season.”

* * *

The sounds of tools clanging against metal filled Keyleth’s ears as she sat on the sofa in Percy’s workshop, drinking one of the fancy craft beers that Percy kept stocked in his mini fridge. It was converted from a storage unit that Percy rented, the walls were adorned with more tools than Keyleth knew the names to and many, many schematics, the work bench was made out of an old door that Percy had stolen from a construction site,  and the floor had a thin layer of dust on it at any given time, despite the fact that either she or Percy swept almost everyday. There was a thrift store sofa pushed up against one of the walls, just across from the workbench, it was brown and mostly deflated on one side, but still functional. It wasn’t lighted particularly well, with only two shop lamps and the sunlight that filtered in through the crack they left open in the door for ventilation.

“Stop obsessing and just text her.” Percy said, not looking away from his latest project. He kept saying it was going to be his best gun yet. Though when Keyleth got excited that he’d finally figured out a way to shoot sandwiches out of a gun, he looked at her like he did the time she’d suggested a gun that fired a smaller gun that fired a knife. 

Keyleth scoffed and looked at him before looking back at her phone. She had her messages open with Vex’s contact pulled up, but the text bubble was blank. Vex had texted her approximately four minutes ago, but Keyleth couldn’t figure out what to say. 

“Maybe just start with a greeting.” Percy suggested, he sounded very distracted. “She said ‘hey what’s up?’ right? Just say hi and tell her that you’re hanging out with me. It’s not that difficult.”

Keyleth and Percy clearly had different ideas of what was difficult. “Look, I’m very nervous and Vex is very cool. She’ll notice if I’m super awkward.”

“She had sight and hearing, I’m sure she’s noticed.” Percy finally looked at her with a small smirk on his face. 

“You’re not nice.” Keyleth said, typing a quick message to Vex. 

_ hi! im great. hanging out with Percy. i think hes making a gun that shoots sandwiches.  _

Keyleth smiled at the message. It looked particularly casual. Light and breezy, the opposite of how she felt at that moment. 

Vex replied before Keyleth could even properly celebrate sending a normal sounding text. 

_ Omg really? Thats wild. How would he even do that?? Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and Vax on saturday? Were just gonna watch movies and eat greasy food, you should come. _

Keyleth read the message to Percy, who snorted. “What?” She asked indignantly. 

“Well, first of all, you should definitely go to this movie night and then the moment her brother leaves the room, you make out with Vex.” Percy put down his tools and sat on his stool, looking at Keyleth seriously. “Because second of all, Vex definitely likes you.”

“Well, yeah. We’re friends.” Keyleth said. She really couldn’t imagine that someone as cool as Vex would ever consider her to be a friend, but still, it happened. 

“No,” Percy shook his head and sighed. “You know what, never mind. You live your oblivious, adorable life. It seems to be working rather well for you.”

“Okay, we’re going to get back to that, but first, tell me what to say to her so I seem cool!”

“Then it’d be out of character.”

“You’re very mean to me despite literally being my best friend.”

Percy smiled kindly at Keyleth for a moment before standing up and getting back to work. “Say that a movie night would be great, you know an awesome movie if you don’t already have one picked out, then ask for their address.”

“See? That wasn’t too difficult?” Keyleth snorted, typing her message. 

_ sure! that sounds fun! i know a great movie if you and vax dont already have one picked out. ill also need to get your address from you too.  _

Keyleth read it to Percy, who simply nodded. “Perfect.” He said. “Now tell her that you think she’d hot and that you want to kiss her stupid face.”

“Shut up!” 

* * *

Vex stood in the center of her living room, scanning the area to make sure that it was perfect. She and Vax had cleaned the place top to bottom until the apartment was ridiculously clean, until Vax mentioned that it looked like they were trying too hard. Then Vex messed things up around the apartment until it looked lived in, but also clean. She’d even hidden all of the stupid magazines she and Vax had free subscriptions to and only left out the  _ National Geographics _ , Vax’s job was to take all the magazines out of the plastic and bend them so they looked like they’d been read.

“Instead of doing this we could’ve not done this and relaxed.” Vax said, flopping onto the sofa. “And while we’re at it, why do I have to be here?”

“When you were in the beginning of your flirtation with Gilmore, you made going to the bar, OUR BAR, awkward!” Vex called as she entered the kitchen. “Do you know how hard it is to get drunk with your awkwardness hanging over everyone’s heads? You owe us all at least one awkwardness buffer.”

Vax was silent for a moment before speaking. “I’m not awkward.” He said indignantly. 

Vex turned at him and glared. “You, my lovely, terrible brother, are the most awkward man I’ve ever met in my life. Even when we were kids, you made me cringe whenever you opened your stupid, awkward mouth.” She paused. “Now it’s my turn to be awkward and you just have to deal with it because you love me.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true.” Vax shrugged. “I ordered the pizza online by the way. Was it really a good idea for us to order before finding out what kind of pizza Keyleth likes?”

“We didn’t put pineapple on it, so there’s no chance of offending her or anything.” Vex smiled to herself. “I literally have thought of everything.”

“And you remembered to invite her right?” Vax said with a laugh. 

“Of course I did, and I made it perfectly casual.” Vex neglected to mention that it took her several minutes to form the texts. “And I’ll have you know that she seemed very excited to come.”

“What movie are we watching?” Vax asked.

“ _ Eight Below _ .” Vex replied. 

“Why? That’s not the most... romantic movie in the world.”

“ _ Because _ it’s not a romantic movie, I’m just trying to cultivate a better friendship right now. Like I’d try to woo someone with my brother sitting right here on the same couch as me.”

“But why the dog movie? There are lots of other movies. Why this one?”

“Because I love dogs.” Vex shrugged. Honestly, her brother could be so dense. “Trinket will definitely be watching with us.” 

Trinket, who was laying on his nearly overstuffed bed, lifted his head at the mention of his name. 

“You go back to sleep, buddy.” Vex grinned at him before turning to Vax. “If he’s gonna watch with us, he should watch something he’ll actually care about.”

“What if Keyleth isn’t cool with how close you are with your dog?” Vax asked, and Vex frowned deeply. 

“First of all, there’s nothing wrong with loving my son.” Vex said, opening the freezer and pulling out the bottle of vodka she and Vax always kept there for emergencies. “Secondly, she knows exactly how I am with Trinket. Remember when she saved his life?”

“She pulled a thorn from his paw, but continue.”

“You would’ve freaked out too.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

Vex pretended she couldn’t hear Vax and took a long drink from the bottle. 

The pizza was delivered within twenty minutes of their discussion and Keyleth arrived several minutes after. Vex had Vax answer the door while she pretended to still be getting ready. It was a move she and Vax used whenever someone they liked came over to visit, depending on which twin they were visiting, they either got out Simon, Vax’s snake, or had Trinket waiting by near the door for them. Testing people was manipulative as hell, Vex understood this, but she and Vax also needed to know that they could trust the people their interested with the person and animal that they care about most. 

So there Vex was, sitting on the floor of their bathroom and spying on what was happening in the living room. 

“Hey, Keyleth.” Vax said, despite not seeing his face, Vex could tell that he was smiling. “I’m just tying ribbons in Trinket’s fur while I wait for Vex to finish getting ready.”

“Woah, really?” Keyleth grinned, sitting down in front of Trinket and holding out her hand for him to sniff. “Do you remember me, buddy? I pulled the thorn out of your paw.”

Trinket sniffed her and moved to lick Keyleth’s face. 

“He remembers me!” Keyleth exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air with a grin. 

Vex smiled at that, it was great that Trinket liked her. 

“Do you want me to braid Trinket’s fur?” Keyleth asked, moving around to Trinket’s other side and starting to braid. 

“Yes! He’s gonna look so awesome!” Vax said, passing Keyleth a few ribbons. 

“If I’d known that I was gonna be braiding a dog, I would’ve brought some flowers.” Keyleth paused. “Oh man! I should make him a flower crown! Why didn’t anyone tell me we’d be decorating Trinket?!”

Vex sighed and leaned her head on the wall before laughing a little. With a smile, she watched for a few minutes as her brother and Keyleth braided her dog’s fur. Based on the periodic, faint whining followed by the gentle, soothing tones from the both Vax and Keyleth led Vex to believe that Trinket was not enjoying himself. But he was clearly tolerating it well enough. 

“Great of you to join us, Vex.” Vax replied as Vex entered the living room. “Look what we did to Trinket!”

Vex looked down at Trinket and felt her heart break a little. He was covered head to tail in pink ribbons and braids, really he looked a little awful, but the large grins on Keyleth and her brother’s faces made it look somewhat cute. With a small sigh, Vex pulled out her phone and took a photo before bending down and giving Trinket a kiss on the top of his head. 

“You look so good, buddy!” She grinned, rubbing his face. “Are you ready to watch the movie?”

Trinket licked Vex’s face and let out a little whine. 

“Sorry about him,” Keyleth said, standing up and smiling apologetically. “But in my defense, it was really fun and Vax was already doing it. So what was I supposed to do? Not braid your dog?”

Vex smiled at Keyleth. “Clearly that’s not an option, right?”

Vax cackled in the background. “If it’s any consolation, I’m not sorry.” He got up and walked over to the kitchen counter. “And now I’m eating some pizza without you.”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me.” Keyleth followed Vax to the kitchen and grabbed two six packs of beer off the counter. “I brought some beer over. It’s the fancy craft stuff that Percy gets, usually I just drink the cheap stuff. But I thought since I was hanging out with you guys, you’d like the fancy stuff.”

“Wait...” Vax held up a hand before grabbing one of the beers. “Freddie drinks craft beer?”

“No, he doesn’t.” Keyleth shrugged and pulled a bottle opener out of the backpack she wore. It matched her fanny pack perfectly, Vex was sure they were a set. “Percy either drinks yaeger bombs or wine that’s older than us.”

“That’s awful.” Vax said, taking a sip of the beer. “You know, I usually just drink vodka, but this is pretty good.”

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to backtrack to the part where Percy drinks yaeger bombs.” Vex said with a laugh. 

“Yeah... I don’t really get it, but he drinks one and then calls himself a trash bag before getting another.” Keyleth shrugged. 

That sounded perfectly in character for Percy and Vex laughed loudly. “That’s incredible!” She walked over to where the others were and grabbed her vodka off the counter and one of the cases of beers. “Vax, grab the pizzas. Let’s get this movie started.”

_ Eight Below  _ was without a doubt simultaneously the best and worst choice Vex could’ve made for the night. It was the best because everyone, including Trinket, was completely engaged with the movie. Trinket even started whining when the dogs were in any kind of peril. Vex had been glancing at Keyleth, who was sitting on the other side of Vax, and couldn’t help but be a little happy with her choice. 

That is, until the second death of the film. Predictably, Vex started to tear up a little, and admittedly cry a little. It was enough to get the attention of Vax and Keyleth, who then crossed over Vax and put a hand on Vex’s knee, trying to comfort her for a moment. This only made Vex a little embarrassed that people noticed her crying. But it was nothing compared to the finale, when Vex started to openly cry despite being embarrassed. If anything that made it worse, until Vax made a point to try and comfort her as well. 

Apparently she could handle her crush comforting her, but adding her brother to the mix made everything terrible. 

She shoved Vax and knocked him off the sofa. 

“What the fuck, Vex?!” He exclaimed after landing with a thud.

Vex sniffled and wiped her eyes before glaring at Vax. “That’s what happens.” 

“That’s what happens when what?” Vax whined, sitting up but not trying to climb back onto the sofa. “I try to comfort my crying sister?”

“You’re such a fucking bottom.” Vex sighed, leaning against the arm of the sofa. 

Vax sat there for a moment, just looking at Vex in silence before speaking. “That makes you a top then, right?”

Vex rolled her eyes. “Of course.” She answered immediately. 

It was in that moment that Vex was keenly aware that Keyleth was sitting right there, on the other side of the sofa, watching the exchange. Her face was beet red and she looked like she was trying her hardest not to laugh or speak. Vex felt her neck start to burn a little.

“This is the greatest movie night ever, right guys?” Vax asked, taking a slice of pizza from the coffee table and taking a bite. 

“Well, I’m having a great time.” Keyleth laughed, finishing her beer. “Whose sexual preferences are we gonna reveal now?”

“Well, based on speculations, I can tell you that I personally think Percy is a bottom.” Vax replied with a grin. 

“God, tell us something we don’t all know.” Vex rolled her eyes. 

They spent the rest of the night like that, drinking on the sofa and laughing about their friends. Keyleth had nearly made Vex shoot vodka out her nose from laughing so hard with her joke about how Scanlan is probably secretly in his sixties and just has a flawless skin care routine. Honestly, it was probable, but he looked  _ really  _ young. It was unnatural.

Vex smiled widely after Keyleth had left and she’d dragged a passed out Vax into his bedroom. She sat down on the sofa and thought a little bit. She really liked Keyleth and Keyleth had seen her cry, during a dog movie of all things. Though, her carefully cultivated image as a stone cold bitch was probably sullied for Keyleth the moment she and Grog stormed into Keyleth’s store. Vex shrugged and chalked it up as a wash before leaning down to pet Trinket. 

“I think tonight was good, don’t you buddy?”

In response, Trinket whined and pulled at one of the pink bows in his fur. 

“Oh shit, I’ll help you with that.”

* * *

Keyleth sat at the group’s favorite booth at Gilmore’s bar half listening to whatever it was that Pike was talking about. Probably medical school. Or maybe not. Keyleth wasn’t even half listening at this point.

Instead, she was doing what she’s spent pretty much all her free time on. Thinking about Vex. It didn’t help that Vex was right across the table from her, sipping her vodka tonic and chatting with Grog and Percy. Keyleth took a long drink from what she hoped was her bottle and turned a little bit toward Pike, trying to maintain the illusion of the conversation, she really hoped that Pike wouldn’t want any kind of reply that was in the least bit thought out or specific. 

“It just really sucks.” Pike sighed, slumping into herself. 

Keyleth frowned and put a hand on Pike’s shoulder. “Yeah, it really does.”

“What really sucks?” Scanlan asked as he returned to the table, his arms laden with several drinks with Vax behind him, carrying the rest. “I got the drinks!”

“I was just telling Keyleth about how the camping trip was a bust because Grandpa’s truck broke down.” Pike sighed, taking the glass from Scanlan with a sad smile. “Thanks by the way.” 

Keyleth frowned and finished her beer before grabbing the other bottle intended for her. This wasn’t the first she was hearing about this camping trip, it had started out as a tentative plan, but eventually everyone got at least a little excited to camp. Except Percy, who was only going because Keyleth and Pike had begged him to come. Now it seemed that Percy was getting his wish. All because no one in their friend group owned a car. 

Two things happened in the next second that made all eyes turn onto Keyleth. The first thing was that she remembered that when she’d first bought her building, the previous owner had tossing in a moving van for six hundred extra dollars and it was just collecting dust in her father’s garage. The second was that upon realizing this, Keyleth inhaled a mouthful of beer and started to cough violently, spitting up beer all over the table in front of her. 

“Key, are you all right?” Vex asked after a beat of silence. 

Everyone was looking at her with baited breath.

“I’m fine.” Keyleth choked out, taking a drink of the one glass of water they always kept on the table whenever they drank. “I just remembered something.”

“What’s that?” Pike asked while Percy began to gingerly wipe up the spill with a few cocktail napkins. 

“I have a van!” Keyleth exclaimed, smiling proudly. “It’s at my dad’s place, but it’s big enough to fit all seven of us-” She looked at Vex, who’d opened her mouth to interject. “and Trinket, and all of our tents and stuff! I mean, it’d be a tight squeeze, but we’d manage. All we have to do is go to my dad’s house and pick it up!”

“That’s awesome!” Pike grinned, wrapping her arms around Keyleth and giving her a tight hug. “You’re the best!”

* * *

Vax had never met a public official in his life, well that wasn’t true. He once met a comptroller back when he and Vex still spoke with their father, but that was neither here nor there. Today he would be meeting Keyleth’s father, an actual senator. That was on the ballot. He’d voted for this man in the last election and now he was going to be meeting him.

And Vax had absolutely nothing to wear. If someone had told Vax that one day he’d be meeting an actual public official, he’d probably had invested in some clothing that wasn’t black or had pictures of birds on it. But that wasn’t the case. There Vax sat, on his bed staring into his closet and wishing he’d listened to Vex the last twelve times they’d gone shopping and at least had bought something that wasn’t in the gray family. How did he manage to have so much black and gray?

“Are you dressed yet?” Vex called from the living room. “The car is gonna pick us up in ten minutes, and you’re going even if I have to drag you out in your boxers!”

“At this point, I’d take you up on that offer!” Vax called back. “At least then I’d have an excuse for being underdressed.” Vax thought for a moment. “And that reminds me, if you’re in a fucking cocktail dress, I’m going to throw a fit!”

“Shut up, I changed!” Vex shouted. “Now get some clothes on!”

“I don’t have any nice clothes!”

“Well maybe if you’d listened to me once in your life, you wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Vax rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t roll your eyes at me!”

He rolled his eyes again and got up. “I’m just gonna wear a hoodie and jeans.” 

“Preferably without holes in them, right?”

“No, I’m going to meet a public official with tears in my pants, Vex!”

It only took a minute for Vax to accept that he was going to look like a scrub compared to his sister and put on some clothes, leaving him a good fifteen minutes of pretending to listen to Vex as she made a list of outfits that he needed to buy during a Black Friday sale. By the time she got done listing all the different kinds of slacks there were, the uber pulled up to their apartment building and he was rescued. Keyleth was waiting for them by the car and looked relatively confused as they climbed in.

“Vex, you’re a little overdressed.” She said, frowning a little at the dress Vex wore. “We’re just picking up a van from my dad...”

“Your dad the senator.” Vex mumbled, sitting near a window and forcing Vax to ride in the middle seat. 

“Oh yeah...” Keyleth shrugged. “But he’s just my dad to me, so he’s just my dad to you guys too. No big deal.”

“I plan to talk policy with him.” Vex said in a nearly serious tone that made Vax laugh and Keyleth look a little uncomfortable.

“Look, guys, my dad’s never met any of my friends before, so I’d really appreciate it if we all acted normal.”

Keyleth’s dad lived about fifteen minutes away in a cute suburb.The house was obscured slightly by several trees and a lush garden, but when they pulled up the driveway, Vax got a perfect view of the house. It was relatively modest, looking a little out of place. Less like a house and more like someone just dropped a cottage that belonged in a forest onto that suburban street.  It even had ivy growing on the exterior walls. 

“Did you grow up here?” Vax asked, looking at the house in awe.

“Yep.” Keyleth nodded as they stepped out of the car and walked to the front door.

“That sounds exactly right to me.” Vex replied.

Vax agreed. Of course the woman who owns a flower shop, carries tweezers in her floral fanny pack, and smells like a woodpile grew up in a god damn cottage that somehow wound up in the suburbs. It made perfect sense. 

Keyleth opened the front door and stepped inside the house before holding the door open for Vex and Vax. The interior was exactly how Vax would have expected it. The whole place was perfectly cozy, with hardwood floors and stone masonry that looked like it had been done by hand on the walls. Where there wasn’t masonry, the walls were painted a light blue and adorned with framed photos, mostly of Keyleth throughout the years, and a few paintings of nature scenes. 

“Dad!” Keyleth called, entering the living room and leaning against one of the white sofas as she waited for her father. “I’m here and I brought friends!”

“Well hi there, Kiddo.” Keyleth’s father stepped in through the entrance that Vax assumed led to the kitchen. 

Keyleth’s father was a tall man with silver hair and the same bright green eyes as his daughter. He was an older man, but his skin was almost without a wrinkle. As he walked into the living room, Vax noticed that he walked with a slight limp. Apparently they hid that very well whenever Keyleth’s father was on TV. 

“Dad,” Keyleth grinned. “These are my friends, Vex and Vax.” 

“It’s good to meet you both.” Keyleth’s father shook Vex’s hand first before moving to Vax. “You can call me Korrin.” He looked at Keyleth and smiled widely at her. “Keyleth, you’ve been here for what? Two minutes? And you haven’t given me a hug?”

Keyleth took two steps before wrapping her arms around Korrin and allowing herself to be pulled into a tight hug. “Hi dad.” She said softly. 

“It’s so nice to see you, Kiddo.” Korrin said as Keyleth took a step back. “I have your keys in the kitchen, but I’d like to visit with you and your friends for a little bit. If you don’t mind, of course.” 

Korrin led them out onto the back porch that overlooked the backyard, which was just as lush as the front. There was no fence that Vax could see, but the yard seemed to end at the treeline where a small area of woods formed. On the side closest to the house, there was a section of garden that was full of bushes and flowers that looked slightly overgrown in a controlled way. 

Korrin sat them on the patio furniture before heading back into the house to get lemonade, leaving them all alone with Keyleth. 

“I’m so sorry, guys.” Keyleth sighed, leaning back in her seat. “If I knew he’d be holding us hostage, I would’ve come alone.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Vex shrugged, looking around the yard. “Your dad’s house is really nice.”

“Definitely.” Vax agreed. Based on what he’d seen from Keyleth’s father, he was a little jealous of her. 

Keyleth shrugged but smiled a little. 

“You know, my daughter rarely brings her friends over.” Korrin said as he exited the house with a tray in his hands. “I think it’s because she’s afraid I’ll intimidate them or something.” He smiled as he set down the tray. “But I don’t think I’m too scary, do you?”

Vax neglected to mention how long he’d taken to pick out an outfit and let out a small laugh. 

“Enough about me, tell me all about yourselves.” Korrin said, sitting down in the chair and looking at Vex and Vax with the kind of paternal interest that felt foreign to Vax. 

After spending the better part of the afternoon with Korrin, he finally got Keyleth the keys to her van and led them out to the garage. The van was large and white, like a painters van, but even bigger somehow, instead of just two front seats and nothing in the spacious back, there were two other seats that faced the back. While it was an odd set up, there was plenty of room for any camping equipment and the rest of the group. Vax glanced around the back and made a mental note to grab his and Vex’s old bean bag chair from the apartment and toss it in the back for someone to sit on. 

Maybe Scanlan could find a lawn chair that they could duct tape down too. 

“Big van.” Vex said as Keyleth tossed her the keys. Vex was the only one who bothered to ever renew her driver's license on time. 

“Can you drive it?” Keyleth asked, earning bright smile from Vex. 

“There’s nothing I can’t drive.” Vex replied with a wink before climbing into the driver’s seat.

Vax stood beside Keyleth, who was frozen in place with her jaw hanging a little. 

“Are you okay?” Vax asked, his brow furrowing. 

“I just got a wink from Vex!” Keyleth whispered, her neck and cheeks turning bright red. She used her hand to fan herself to cool down her blush. 

Vax’s eyes widened for a moment before he fought to maintain a straight face. “What does that matter? She winks at everyone.”

“It doesn’t!” Keyleth exclaimed before hurrying to the passenger’s seat and climbing in. 

“Of course it doesn’t.” Vax rolled his eyes and opened the side door.

* * *

Scanlan Shorthalt wrote the book on romance, unfortunately, none of his friends ever bothered to read it. He knew from the first moment he saw Vex and Keyleth interact that they were into each other, and within the second moment, he knew why it would take them six years and five days before they got together without outside help. Keyleth was too awkward to do anything about it and either Vex was still pretending that she didn’t have a crush on Keyleth, or she didn’t actually know.

Either way, Scanlan was sure of one thing. His friends were idiots. 

That was why when it was his turn to host the group’s movie night, Scanlan knew exactly what he had to do. He was far too smart to choose an overtly romantic movie to play. That would just ruin the mood and make Keyleth and Vex uncomfortable, possibly adding an extra three months onto how long it’d take them to hookup. No, he chose a movie that not only was fabulous and just the right amount of cheesy, but the romance took a backseat to the main narrative. Not to mention the soundtrack for the movie was flawless.

Naturally, Scanlan’s choice was  _ Mamma Mia _ .

In little groups, everyone made it to his apartment within five minutes of each other. The first to arrive were Grog and Pike, followed closely by Percy and Keyleth, with Vex and Vax bringing up the rear. Once he’d greeted everyone and they’d put their alcoholic beverages into the fridge, Percy called their favorite Chinese food place that delivered and they all placed their orders. 

“Now, I have a special movie planned for us this week.” Scanlan said with a big grin. 

“Is it a musical?” Pike asked, effectively throwing Scanlan off his rhythm a little. 

“Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to.” Percy said to Pike before gesturing to Scanlan with a small flourish. “As you were saying?”

“I chose a movie with a dream cast,” Scanlan continued, smiling widely. “A fabulous soundtrack, and beautiful scenery! I chose the movie  _ Mamma Mia _ .”

“With Meryl Streep?” Keyleth asked while everyone else got comfortable. 

“No, with the other fabulous actress with the voice of an angel and a heart made of pure light.” Scanlan rolled his eyes and queued up the movie. 

As they got situated the food came and Scanlan was so thrilled at how perfectly everything was timed out. He managed to situate everyone on the furniture so that Vex and Keyleth were close to each other, but not totally next to each other. He didn’t want to seem too obvious. 

So there he sat between two idiots who clearly were into each other, eating Chinese food, watching one of his favorite films, and being the worst buffer for awkward people since the dawn of time. Throughout the movie, Scanlan would get up to use the restroom. He was pretty sure someone was going to make him go to the doctor due to the frequency in which he excused himself. But really all he had to do was pretend to go to the doctor then drink a lot of cranberry juice if anyone was concerned. Scanlan seriously doubted they would be anyway, the movie was too flawless not to hold one’s attention. 

“Are you all right?” Keyleth asked when Scanlan sat back down for the tenth time that night. 

“Totally fine, I’ve been drinking a lot.” Scanlan replied easily. He had been nursing the same glass of rum and pineapple juice the whole night, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Maybe you should slow down, yeah?” Vex suggested, taking a swig of what Scanlan believed to be straight vodka. 

Scanlan watched her take another drink, raising his eyebrows. 

“Fair enough.” Vex shrugged, looking at Keyleth. “You’re drinking hard lemonade, tell Scanlan to cool down his drinking.”

“You might have a UTI.” Keyleth said instead, making Vex sigh and slump forward and Grog, who was sat on the floor in front of them, start laughing loudly.

Scanlan rolled his eyes and stood up, excusing himself again and walking to the kitchen to refresh his drink. He watched as he half heartedly poured his pineapple juice as Keyleth not so stealthily glanced at Vex, rolling his eyes at her lack of finesse. He took a sip of his drink and topped off his drink again. By now his glass was mostly just juice. 

It took two more sips before Scanlan watched the way that Vex had subtly moved a little closer to Keyleth. It was hardly noticeable, but Scanlan was the master of romance, naturally he would see it. With a smile, Scanlan poured more rum into his drink and sat down on the saddle stool he had at his counter. While watching the movie, he’d make sure to glance over at his newest project, his smile widening when his old seat was completely taken over by the two of them. 

“Hey, Scanlan!” Grog called during the final song. “Are you okay over there?”

“I’m fine, Grog.” Scanlan picked up his bottle of rum and shook it over his head. “I’ve gotta stay close to my drink.”

Grog nodded sagely while Percy and Vax sent him knowing looks before settling back into their seats. 

“He totally has a UTI.” Keyleth said a little too loudly, earning a soft laugh from Vex.

“Don’t worry about me, guys. I’ll buy some cranberry juice tomorrow.” He noted Pike rolling her eyes at him. 

* * *

It was three in the morning when Keyleth was suddenly awakened by the sound of her cell phone ringing. It took her a moment to blink away the sleep in her eyes and allow them to adjust to the brightness of her screen. She couldn’t really tell whether it was Vax or Vex on her caller ID, but at the moment, Keyleth didn’t care.

“What’s wrong?” Keyleth asked. It had to be important if she was receiving a call so early in the morning. 

_ “Oh thank god you answered _ .” Came the voice of Vex, sounding both relieved and stressed at the same time.  _ “I need your help.” _

Keyleth sat up and frowned, putting the phone on speaker and looking around for a hoodie to toss on. “Are you okay?” Keyleth asked hurriedly, scrambling to get dressed. “Is it Vax? Oh god, did something happen to him?”

_ “What? No, he’s fine.”  _ Vex replied, sounding a little confused.  _ “He’s not even here. It’s trinket, he got hot last night while we were sleeping and crawled under the bed to cool down. Now he’s stuck and the bed is too heavy for me to lift. Will you come over and help me?” _

Keyleth froze with only one arm in her hoodie that she’d found under her bedside table. “Oh man, is Trinket okay?” She found herself asking, pulling the rest of her hoodie on and grabbing a pair of shoes. “Just let me get my shoes on, I’ll be right over.”

_ “Thank god!”  _ Vex paused.  _ “Trinket’s fine. He’s just scared.”  _

Keyleth heard Vex murmur some comforting words to Trinket before she replied. “Give me a few minutes, I’ll take the van.”

_ “I didn’t know you could drive...” _

Keyleth frowned at that. “I have a license, just make sure Trinket’s okay.” 

_ “Yeah, all right.”  _ Vex replied.  _ “Thanks, Key.” _

“No problem.” Keyleth said, putting on her shoes. “I’ll be there soon.”

With that, Vex hung up.

It took barely five minutes to get over to Vex’s building and after several tries, Keyleth was buzzed in. She hurried up to the fourth floor apartment, forgoing the elevator in favor of running. She was pretty sure she’d made it up quicker than the elevator could have hoped. 

“It’s this way!” Vex said after answering the door and leading the way into her bedroom.

Keyleth had never been inside of Vex’s bedroom and she really didn’t have time to take a good look around, Trinket was trapped. The bed, a full with an wire frame, was a little heavy, but Keyleth managed to lift it up enough for Vex to convince Trinket to crawl out from under the bed. It took nearly half a minute and by the time Trinket was safely out of the range of the frame, Keyleth’s arms were burning. She lowered it halfway and then dropped it the rest of the way, letting it land with a loud thud. 

“Thank you so much!” Vex pulled Keyleth into a tight hug. 

Unlike the first time this happened, Keyleth didn’t freeze. Not completely at least. She squeezed Vex back briefly and smiled a little. “Don’t worry about it. I love Trinket.”

Vex grinned and pulled away, sitting on the bed and taking Trinket’s face in her hands. “That’s because everybody loves Trinket, don’t they, Buddy?” She said in a puppy voice. 

Keyleth sat down beside Vex and scratched Trinket behind the ear. “It’s true, you’re the best dog!” She said, smiling widely when Trinket turned to look at Keyleth. “I swear you understand what we’re saying.”

Trinket tilted his head before licking her hand.

“I love your dog.” Keyleth said seriously. “Best dog in the world. He’s so great.”

“He really is.” Vex nodded. “I love him more than anything.”

“Hey, where’s Vax, by the way?” Keyleth asked, turning to look at Vex. 

“Oh, he’s at Gilmore’s house.”

“What’s he doing at Gilmore’s?”

Vex sent Keyleth a withering look. “If you make me even think about what Vax is doing at Gilmore’s, you owe me three hundred dollars.”

Realization hit Keyleth and she tried to hold in her laughter, failing spectacularly.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes, just petting Trinket and letting him give them kisses before Vex spoke again. 

“You’re not gonna drive back this late are you?” Vex asked. “I mean, it’s a Saturday, so you have the day off tomorrow... and I don’t want you to fall asleep at the wheel and crash. You can use the couch of Vax’s bed, or you can take my bed and I can sleep on the couch. There are a lot of options. I just don’t want you dying on me.”

“I do help your dog a lot.” Keyleth nodded, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the top of Trinket’s head. 

“Not just that!” Vex laughed, slapping Keyleth’s shoulder lightly. “I like you too.”

Keyleth felt her neck and cheeks burning. “Well, I like you too.” She replied. 

“Great.” Vex nodded. 

Keyleth hadn’t noticed until then, but she and Vex seemed to be drifting closer to each other. Their knees were touching and Keyleth had leaned forward a little at the same time Vex had. Doing her best to avoid eye contact, Keyleth bit her lip and tried not to think about how close Vex’s face was to hers. 

All it would take to kiss Vex would be just the slightest turn of her head. Keyleth thought about it for a moment, then as she was building up the nerve, Vex pulled away and stood up. Filled with disappointment, and somehow relief, Keyleth’s shoulders slumped a little. She let out a sigh and watched as Vex collected Trinket. 

“You take my bed, we’ll take the couch.” Vex said with a small smile. 

“Okay. See you in the morning.” Keyleth nodded, her heart was pounding in her ears so hard she barely heard what Vex mumbled as she left. 

“And Vax thought I’d never get around to getting her into my bed.” 

Or at least that’s what it sounded like as Vex closed the door. 

Keyleth flopped onto her back and laid on Vex’s bed in silence for a few moments, musing about what had just happened. She scooted up to the pillows and buried her face into one of them, breathing in the smell of Vex’s shampoo before kicking off her shoes and grabbing one of Vex’s blankets. 

Normally, if she had a lot to think about, Keyleth would have a hard time falling asleep. But tonight was different. Maybe it was how late it was and she felt exhausted as hell, or it could have been how oddly comforting it was in Vex’s bed, but Keyleth drifted off faster than she had in a long time. 

* * *

Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III had many regrets in his life and riding in the back of a delivery van with a beanbag chair as a seat was one of them. He was wedged between Scanlan and Vax, who both had the good sense to call dibs on an actual seat and his knees were almost touching his chin with how he was bent in the beanbag chair. To the left of Vax sat Trinket, Grog, and Pike on the shag carpet that Scanlan had brought to give the van personality. Percy was sure that Scanlan had just gotten a new rug and needed to get rid of the old one, but whatever. The space in the back of the van was a little cramped due to all the bags and equipment, but it wasn’t the worst place Percy had ever been in, so he decided to keep his complaining to a minimum.

The only real issue Percy had with his seat placement was that he was shoved so far in between Vax and Scanlan’s seats that he was also between Vex and Keyleth. Both of whom were doing terrible impressions of people who weren’t currently infatuated with each other. Added to this was Scanlan’s “camping trip” playlist that he’d made specifically to help get the tension rising between the two of them enough to get them to confess their feelings and to stop being so damn awkward. As Keyleth’s best friend and confidant, Percy was completely sure that it would not work. 

Then again, Scanlan was the self proclaimed love master, so who was Percy to tell him otherwise. 

He leaned back in his “seat” and tried his best to listen to the music that Scanlan had picked out. It was filled mostly with romantic songs with a few others to make it seem less obvious. A song from the early 2000’s played and Percy leaned his head back, trying his best to stretch as much as he could without disrupting the others around him. After straightening his leg a little, Trinket rested his head on it, effectively trapping Percy in that position for as long as he was comfortable. 

“You know, I really like this song.” Keyleth said quietly, mostly to Vex, but Percy was within earshot as well. 

Vex hummed and nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty old though, you don’t hear it much anymore.”

Percy pretended he wasn’t listening, but turned his head a little to hear better. 

Leave it to Keyleth to make every conversation with Vex more awkward than the last. Percy found himself feeling second hand embarrassment as he listened to Keyleth’s, soon to be patented, brand of flirting that sounded like it belonged at a church camp. The two of them were literally talking about the weather.

After a few minutes of listening to them, Percy felt a gentle kick to the side of his leg. He glanced up and noticed Scanlan looking at him intensely. They made eye contact before Scanlan gestured with his head toward the front seat then raised his eyebrows up and down with a curious look on his face. Percy only frowned at him in response and shook his head a little. He knew exactly what Scanlan was asking and the answer to that question was no.

To Percy’s knowledge, they were making exactly no progress at all. 

“You know, your van is actually pretty decent.” Percy heard Vex say. “How much did you say it cost?”

“It was an extra six hundred.” Keyleth replied. “My dad had it checked out by a mechanic, too. It runs fine, I guess they just didn’t want to deal with having an extra vehicle.” 

“Probably.” Vex shrugged. She was quiet for a moment. “It’s been so long since I’ve been camping, I’m really excited! I bet Trinket’s going to love the woods.”

“Yeah, me too.” Keyleth said, Percy noted the hint of a smile on Keyleth’s face. “I used to camp a lot with my dad when I was younger. It was mostly just us in the woods, we eat what we catch, and for a weekend we’d just be out there in touch with nature. It was really great, actually.”

“Well, Pike was in charge of packing the food, so we should be fine.” Vex said with a small laugh. “But fishing could be fun.”

“Yeah, I made sure to have Percy pack some rods.” Keyleth replied. “I just have to warn you, I’m amazing at fishing.”

“I don’t think it’s much of a skill. It’s kind of a luck and waiting thing...” Vex said.

Percy was inclined to agree with her.

“No, trust me. I’m really good at fishing.”

Percy held back a small laugh and looked at Scanlan, who was now chatting with Pike and Grog, then to Vax, who was carving his initials into the arm rest. Trinket was snoring peacefully on Percy’s leg, which was now starting to fall asleep. He leaned back again and glanced over at Keyleth, her neck and cheeks were turning red. With a small frown, Percy noted that he’d missed something while he was glancing around the van. 

“Thanks.” Keyleth mumbled, taking a sip from a bottle of water. 

Upon squinting, Percy saw that it was Vex’s. So that was what Keyleth was blushing about. In that moment, Percy felt like the world’s most useless secret agent.

The rest of the ride passed uneventfully, Keyleth and Vex would awkwardly chat about nothing, Percy would hear it and have to break the news to Scanlan, who in turn looked more and more irritated. By the time they made it to the campsite, it was mid afternoon and Percy felt like his legs would never work again. 

A wave of relief washed over him when Vex opened the back doors and ushered them all out. They unpacked and locked up the car, checked in with the front desk, and headed out to their plot. It was a ten minute walk, but it wasn’t so bad. Grog and Pike carried mostly everything with Keyleth and Vax carrying the rest. All Percy had to deal with was his own backpack, something he and Scanlan kept to themselves as they lagged a little behind the others. 

“Okay, spill.” Scanlan said once they were out of earshot. “What’d you hear? What’d they do? Are they together? Did they kiss? I need the details.”

“They talked about nothing and shared a water bottle.” Percy sighed. 

“Oh... That’s awful. I’m sorry for you.” 

* * *

Pike Trickfoot was excited to go camping. It had been years since she’d gone, back when her great grandfather could get around better, and she’d been itching to go ever since. It took almost no time at all to get the tents set up with Grog and Keyleth’s help, while Scanlan and Percy set up the fire pit, and Vex and Vax went hunting for firewood. Within twenty minutes, their camp was set up and they had a fire going.

Sitting back on her seat, Pike looked into the fire and smiled, happily accepting the marshmallow on a stick from Vex before she sat down beside her. 

“Have we talked about sleeping arrangements?” Vax asked, he sat on a lawn chair across from Pike, looking around the group. “Because I have some ideas.”

“Oh?” Vex asked, looking ready to be annoyed. 

“Yeah, Grog gets the one person tent because he’s huge.” Vax gestured to Grog, who was on his second bottle of ale. “Then me, Scanlan, and Percy will share. And you chicks can share.”

“What about Trinket?” Keyleth asked from her seat beside Grog, she took a sip of Grog’s ale when it was offered and gave him a thumbs up.

“I assume with Vex.” Vax shrugged. 

“I, for one, think it’s a great idea.” Percy said, rubbing Trinket’s head. 

“So do I!” Scanlan said through a mouthful of marshmallow. 

Pike looked over at Vex, then at Keyleth. They each were trying to be sly about the way they were glancing at each other. Of course Pike knew they liked each other, and of course she knew exactly what Vax and Scanlan were trying to do. But Pike also knew that sometimes it took time to accept and act on feelings, so she was going to do her best to be supportive and pretend that she doesn’t notice them. Even though she definitely did. 

“That sounds fine.” Pike shrugged. “I’m pretty small, so Trinket could fit in just fine.”

“Yeah, okay.” Vex nodded, looking at Keyleth. “If that’s okay with you, of course.”

“Yeah yeah, it’s fine!” Keyleth shrugged. She was blushing and almost knocked Grog’s ale out of his hand.

“Great!” Vax clapped his hands together. “Now that we have that settled, let’s drink and enjoy the woods.”

“Already there!” Grog announced from his seat on the cooler while Pike pulled her marshmallow away from the flame. 

And so they drank and enjoyed themselves in the woods. They’d dined on s’mores and roasted hot dogs around the fire, allowing Trinket to wander around, begging for scraps. Which he got in abundance. Pike was guilty of giving him half a hotdog at one time, making her thankful that Vex wasn’t looking in their direction. Scanlan had gotten out his guitar and within a few minutes they were all drunkenly singing together around the fire. 

When it was time to turn in, it was a little difficult to get Trinket situated before they decided on how they’d be sleeping. It took half a second of looking between Vex and Keyleth before Pike offered to sleep in the middle. The looks of relief on her friends’ faces was enough thanks for Pike, so she could sleep easy. 

The inside of the tent was warm, in stark contrast to the chilled Autumn air outside. Pike was wedged between Keyleth and Vex, she really did not need a sleeping bag with how warm they were in there. If it weren’t for the way Keyleth kept wiggling around, Pike was sure she would’ve fallen asleep within a few minutes. But Keyleth was wiggling around, and despite this, Vex had fallen asleep on the other side of Pike. She could feel Vex’s soft breaths against the back of her ear. 

“Kiki,” Pike sighed quietly. “What’s up? Are you too warm?”

“No, I’m fine.” Keyleth replied in a whisper. “It’s just weird in here, you know?”

“No, I don’t.” That was a lie. 

“Oh... well...” Keyleth sat up a little to see if Vex was still asleep. “I just. I think I have a crush on Vex...”

“You think?” Pike asked, trying to keep herself sounding surprised. “Why do you think?”

“Probably because I definitely do.” Keyleth continued. “And I’m just really awkward around her and I don’t know what to do...”

“Well, maybe you could try to tell her how you feel...” Pike said with a soft smile. “Even if she doesn’t like you back-” Which was impossible. “-Vex appreciates honesty. And you might be surprised by her response.”

Keyleth looked at Pike for a long moment before narrowing her eyes. “Do you know something?”

Pike let out a laugh and smiled a little wider. “Vex never told me anything, but I mean it. You should tell her.”

Keyleth nodded a couple times, deep in thought before looking even more worried. “What if... What if I freak her out? Or make her mad?”

“People have crushes on Vex all the time, she’d never be mad at you.” Pike put a hand on Keyleth’s arm. “She uses people’s crushes on her to get better prices at the farmers’ market.”

Again, Keyleth nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good. No pressure, but I really think Vex would appreciate your bravery and honesty.”

“Thanks, Pike, you’re the best.”

* * *

Vex woke up to the sounds of birds chirping, the feeling of Trinket’s breath on her ear, and a sudden flash of light. Blinking herself awake, Vex sat up and glanced around the tent, Pike and Keyleth were still asleep. Keyleth’s arms were wrapped around Pike, holding her close to her chest, it made Vex feel a twinge of jealousy before she directed her attention to the tent flap. There stood Vax, phone in hand, with the biggest grin that made Vex angry.

“I just got the best picture of you guys all cuddled up.” Vax grinned, turning his phone and showing Vex the photo. It was of them sleeping, Pike and Keyleth were cuddling each other while Trinket was spooning Vex. “I’ve already sent it to Scanlan, he’s gonna turn it into a meme.”

“I don’t want to be a meme!” Vex was simultaneously too old and too young to be a meme. “I barely even know what that means!”

Vax shrugged and pocketed his phone before walking away. “Just be happy your sleeping situation was good. Grog was snoring the whole night!”

“He had his own tent!” Vex called back as she gathered her clothes for the day and let Trinket out of the tent. 

“I know!” Scanlan yelled back. 

It would be a few more minutes until Pike and Keyleth woke up and they all got ready for the day. Everyone sat around the firepit with Trinket happily scampering around camp and sniffing around for any remnants of their breakfast that might’ve fallen on the ground. The air was a little chilly, but warm enough that all that was needed to keep warm was a flannel or a light jacket. It took several minutes of debating to decide what they were going to do first.

Grog, to no one’s surprise had suggested they start drinking and stayed pretty adamant about it until Scanlan pointed out that they could drink while doing a number of activities. After shooting down the hike that Keyleth had suggested, everyone decided to either fish or to mess around in the river they were camping near. 

Vex rolled up the legs of her pants and took off her shoes, sitting on the shore and watching the others as they fished or splashed around in the water. Pike and Percy were sitting a ways away from them, each with fishing poles in hand while Grog sat beside them, drinking happily. Beside her sat Scanlan, who was strumming his guitar and singing little parodies of songs about the things he saw around him. In front of her in the water were Keyleth and Vax, they were almost up to their knees in the water with their pants rolled up. Vex made a point to tease Vax about how pale his legs were later that day. 

Whatever they were arguing about, it seemed less like a fight and more like playful ribbing. Vex smiled a little as she watched them, but didn’t bother to try and listen in. Eventually their argument devolved into light splashing, which enticed Trinket, who stormed into the water and tackled Vax, effectively knocking him over. Vex watched as Keyleth laughed so hard at him that she fell over into the water as well. 

“Vex!” Vax called as he stumbled back ashore while Keyleth played with Trinket in the water. “Did you see what your dog did to me?”

“Oh he was just playing.” Vex shrugged, leaning away from her brother as he dripped all around her. “And stay away from me, I don’t want to get wet.”

“Oh, dear sister, you are foolish!” Vax grinned before tackling Vex into the ground, hugging her tightly and effectively soaking her clothes. 

“You jerk!” Vex shrieked, kicking her legs up at him and flailing about. She’d slapped Vax several times on the arms and chest before he’d sat up and let her free. 

“Uh, guys, I hate to interrupt whatever it is you’re doing, but...” Scanlan said, pointing toward the water where Keyleth and Trinket were. “What the fuck is happening over there?”

Keyleth and Trinket weren’t playing anymore, instead it looked like Keyleth was doing some kind of intense diving while Trinket barked at her from a few feet away. Vex, Vax, and Scanlan watched her intently as she dived in again, this particular dive was followed by the most intense splashing Vex had ever seen. Within a second, Keyleth was standing back up and held something big, brown, and shiny in her hands before looking back to the shore.

“Vex, look!” She exclaimed, turning to face the group and revealing a good sized brown trout. “I told you I was good at fishing!”

“Holy shit!” Grog yelled from where he sat beside the others. “Lookit that!”

Vex stood there, frozen as Keyleth ran toward the shore as quickly as she could manage with a fish in her hands. She glanced around and saw that Percy and Pike had wandered over as well, looking as confused as Vex felt when they’d all met up. It felt so ridiculous to Vex as she looked at the fish in Keyleth’s hands, then up at her smiling, proud face, then back to the fish. 

“Holy shit, Key.” Vex said, looking back at Keyleth. “You weren’t joking!”

“I’m gonna put him in the bucket for dinner!” Keyleth grinned as she and Grog went to put the fish in their live bucket they’d made. It had been empty until then. 

“How the fuck were you able to catch an actual salmon with your bare hands?” Percy asked loudly, a few steps behind Keyleth. 

“First of all, he’s clearly a brown trout.” Keyleth called back as she put the trout in the bucket and grabbed a towel from Grog. “Second of all, ask Vex, I told her I was good at fishing!”

“It’s true.” Vex shrugged, watching as Keyleth sat down near the fishing poles. “She did tell me that.” 

Percy rolled his eyes and went back to the poles. 

“Damn, Key, you have to show me how to do that!” Pike announced, following Keyleth and Percy. “Like right now, let’s have another beer and then get in the fucking water!”

Scanlan looked at them all, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “I get how cool that was, but god. Fish hands. God that’s gross.”

Vex rolled her eyes at him and stood up, brushing the dirt and grass off her wet shirt. 

“You know, sis.” Vax said, leaning over toward Vex. “You should really lock Keyleth down. She’s a provider.”

Vex groaned and punched his arm. 

“Oh no! It’s like I’ve been punched by a baby!” Vax laughed, pretending to recoil. 

“Shut up!” Vex hit him again. 

They spent the rest of the day lounging by the river, Percy and Pike, with Keyleth’s help, managed to catch seven more fish. The sun was setting as Keyleth and Pike got to work cleaning the fish, Vex watched as she got the griddle and the vegetables ready. She and Vax had been camping before, but it was always just the two of them, they had been teenagers at the time, trying to get a few days of peace away from their father. Hearing Pike and Keyleth trade stories about camping when they were younger made Vex feel a little left out. 

“This is gonna be so awesome!” Grog announced, wheeling the cooler back to camp from the water’s edge. “We’re making our own food, on our own fire, with our own griddle! This is so great!”

“It really is.” Percy agreed, having just returned with more firewood, glancing over at Keyleth and Pike. “That’s disgusting.”

“Well, you don’t have to eat it.” Pike replied, sending him a playful glare.

“No, no.” Percy set down the firewood and put up his hands in surrender. “Let’s not be too hasty.”

“I’ve got so many songs to sing around the campfire tonight, guys.” Scanlan announced. “So many songs.”

“Do you know anything by  _ The Backstreet Boys _ ?” Vax asked loudly, earning a scoff from Scanlan. 

“Don’t insult me, of course I do!” Scanlan shouted from his seat. 

Dinner went by pretty quickly, and Vax and Scanlan had to do the cleanup. Which felt oddly right to Vex as she sat with Trinket by the water’s edge. She tried to stay far away from the actual river, she’d already had to change her clothes once today. The sun was setting quickly and she could hear the laughter from the camp.

With a small sigh, Vex pulled her lighter and pack of cigarettes out of her pockets, lighting one up and taking in a deep inhale. She’d started smoking when she and Vax still lived with their dad in the hopes to make him angry, while it worked very well, Vex now had an annoying and expensive habit. But still, it used to really annoy her dad. 

After a few minutes of enjoying the view, Vex felt something cold touch the back of her neck. She jumped away immediately and turned quickly to look at the source. There stood Keyleth, barely illuminated by the campfire and holding two bottles of beer in her hands. She smiled at Vex and held the beers up.

“I brought you something to drink.” She said brightly. “Do you mind if I sit?” 

Vex scooted over and patted the spot beside her. 

“Thanks.” Keyleth sat down and twisted the top off of one of the bottles and handed it to Vex. “Here.” 

Vex smiled and took a sip. “Thanks.” She stubbed her cigarette out in the dirt and placed the butt in her pocket. 

“I didn’t know you smoked.” Keyleth said. Her face was screwed up in disgust, but she seemed to try, and fail, to hide it. 

Vex pretended not to notice. “Yeah, I do. I started when I was a kid to piss off my father.” 

“Oh.” Keyleth’s brow furrowed. “I’m not trying to judge you or anything... I just don’t... I... I’m sorry.”

Vex laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, it’s a disgusting habit. I’ve been meaning to quit for a while.”

“Oh.” Keyleth leaned back and looked up at the sky. 

Vex followed suit.

The sun had been completely set for a few minutes and the stars were coming out. The night before, they hadn’t taken the time to slow down and look up,. It was refreshing to see them, there were barely any stars in the city, but out there in the woods there were so many out that it was mesmerizing. They were quiet, the only sounds being that of their friends’ laughter back at camp and the river’s flow. 

It felt so quiet, so isolated, and yet Vex didn’t feel alone. She hadn’t noticed it until it happened, but her hand had inched toward Keyleth’s, their fingertips just barely brushed against each other. Vex let out a little breath and pushed her hand a little bit toward Keyleth’s. She looked at Keyleth out of the corner of her eye and noticed a faint blush on Keyleth’s cheeks. 

Keyleth was like a baby deer, she was easy to scare off. Vex knew that she had to make any moves toward her as slow and careful as possible. In fact, Vex was a little surprised that Keyleth hadn’t taken her hand back yet. 

“Vex...” Keyleth said quietly, her cheeks turning a brighter red. “I... uh... I have something to tell you.” 

Vax furrowed her brow. “All right.” 

Keyleth still wasn’t looking at her. “I just. I need you to promise me that we’ll stay friends, okay? I need you to not be mad at me after I tell you this.”

Vex frowned deeply and turned her body so she was fully facing Keyleth. With her free hand, she gently touched Keyleth’s cheek and turned her head a little so Keyleth was looking at her. “I promise, whatever it is, I won’t let it ruin our friendship. What’s the matter?”

Keyleth took in a deep breath and shakily let it out. “Okay...” She paused and glanced back at the campfire.

It was so close to them, but at the moment it felt like they were miles away from the others.

“Okay.” Keyleth repeated, turning her body toward Vex and steeling herself. “I... I have something to say, and it might upset you, but I have to say it. I... I think I like you, Vex. In a... In a romantic way. And I know that it’s far fetched of me to think that you’d feel the same about me, but... But that’s how I feel. And I just... I need you to know that I think you’re one of... No the... I think you’re the most amazing woman on the planet and ever since you came storming into my store, all I can think about it how pretty you are, and how good you smell, and how... Just how cool you are...”

Vex watched Keyleth for a while, half expecting Keyleth to continue. If not, it was such an odd place to end a confession. Vex didn’t know how to feel about all this, she was thrilled that Keyleth shared her feelings, but oddly... annoyed that it was Keyleth who’d confessed first. Shaking her head, Vex made eye contact with Keyleth, biting her lip a little and scooting forward a little. 

“But, yeah...” Keyleth continued. “I think about you a lot more than I would like to admit... and I just wanted you to know... So, uh...” Keyleth made a move to stand up before Vex put an arm out, stopping her. 

“Keyleth.” Vex said softly, waiting for Keyleth to look at her. “Usually when you make a confession, you have to wait to hear what the other person has to say.”

“Oh.” Keyleth looked at her blankly. “Okay... What do you have to say?”

Vex let out a soft laugh. “I feel the same, Keyleth. Ever since I stormed into your shop, I haven’t stopped thinking about you and your fanny pack. And the fact that somehow you always smell like a woodpile. What even is that, anyway? Is it a perfume or shampoo? Do you just burn incense or candle every morning and sit in front of it to absorb its smell?”

Keyleth opened her mouth to answer, giving her an odd look.

“No, don’t mind that, we’re getting off track.” Vex shook her head. “The point is, I think I feel the same about you, and if you’d let me, I’d really like to... well to kiss you right now. So... take that as you would.”

“I wouldn’t mind that...” Keyleth murmured, leaning a little closer to Vex and setting her beer 

“Really? I just smoked a cigarette.” Vex put down her beer. 

“I don’t care.” Keyleth replied. 

Vex laughed a little and took Keyleth’s face in both her hands, pulling her in and connecting their lips. It wasn’t perfect, not by any means, and Keyleth was not the best kisser. Their noses knocked together, making Vex laugh when she pulled away a little for air before leaning back in. Keyleth tasted like s’mores and craft beer, and that seemed perfectly Keyleth to Vex. 

“Oh...” Keyleth murmured when they pulled away, she looked up at the stars again. “Thank you for that.”

Vex laughed and fell back a little before catching herself. “You’re cute.” 

“I... thank you.” Keyleth’s cheeks darkened again and she put her hand on top of Vex’s. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Thank you.” Vex scooted closer to Keyleth until their shoulders were touching, then put her arm around her. 

After a few moments of silence Keyleth spoke again. 

“I think we should date.”

Vex rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh. “So do I.”

“So we’re a couple, then?” 

“Sure, Keyleth, we’re a couple now.”

“Great!” 

Vex smiled at Keyleth and leaned in to kiss her again, only to be shocked by the voice of Vax behind them. She turned to see him leaning against one of the trees, grinning widely and twirling his pocket knife in his hands. He looked so smug that Vex wanted to slap him. 

“Once you two are done naming constellations after each other or whatever it is lesbians do in the woods, we’re gonna play a game of beer pong and we need you both for teams.”

“I hate you, Vax.”

**Author's Note:**

> This will be an ongoing au series about modern Vox Machina. There are a lot of headcanons involved, if you want to talk to me about them, you can contact me at my tumblr. I have the same username as on AO3.


End file.
